Leauge of Extrodinary Shinobi
by Nine Blades
Summary: Akatsuki is discovered sooner than in cannon. Jiraiya, seeing no alternative, decideds to train a team to take down Akatsuki himself. Now, taking Shinobi-in-training from all over the Elemental Nations, Jiraiya faces the task of training ten teenage trainies from different villages to work together. What could possibly go wrong. First story, please comment. Dont Own Naruto!
1. Birth of the League

Jiraiya walked briskly towards the Hokage Tower. Not being seen since the Kyuubi attack 9 years ago, many people stared at him as he walked by. And by the serious look on his face, they knew he wasn't back with good news. Finally making it to the tower, the old, white haired man bypassed the stairs and instead jumped up towards the roof jutting out next to the Hokage's window. See the age worn man behind the desk, Jiraya pushed open the window, letting the Hokage know he was there. "Old Man, I got bad news." He said, forgoing pleasentries because of the urgency.  
Lighting his pipe, the aged Hokage turned aroundin his chair to look at his one student still in the village. "Jiraiya, what news is that." The grandfatherly looked washed off his face as the serious, leader look took it's place.  
"My spies have picked something up, something big. SS Class Big at least." He paused for a moment for the severaty of the situation to sink in. "They picked up Orochi's trail, but it seams he joined an organization. All Missing-Nin, all S class minimal. And there's another familier face there, Itachi Uchiha is in it, too."  
To say Hiruzen was shocked would be like saying lava was freezing cold. 'A gathering of S-Class criminals, what kind of group is this. And what kind of man was able to keep them all in line.' When he voiced his thoughts to Jiraiya, he simply replied that the leader was still an unknown.  
"Another thing we don't know is their porpuse. A group of that many talented shinobi would be after something _huge_, but no one was able to figure it out." He hesitated slightly before going on. "I want to make a team to combat them."  
Hiruzen nodded and turned back to his desk grabbing a pen and piece of paper. "Good idea, I'll send three ANBU Divisions-" the aged Hokage was cut off before he could finish by Jiraiya.  
"No Old Man, you don't understand. This isn't your avaerage rag-tag group of Missing-Nin. A few ANBU won't put a dent in these guys. What we need is an elete team made presically to counter-act them." He sighed, knowing he was going to sound idiotic. "I need a team od acadamy students." Judging by the wide-eyed look on his face, the aged Sarutobi was not expecting that, and no one blamed. Who would be crazy enough to reguest a group of kids to defeat a group of **S-CLASS **Missing-nin. "Now don't worry Old Man, I don't plan on leading a bunch of kids to their group, Akatsuki, is still building itself as it is. We could send in a group to hopefully destroy them, but we don't knw where their HQ is. What the spy saw was only four people. We don't know exact numbers, supplies, or even their location! Hell, for all we know their HQ could be on a giant Dragon's back!"  
_Summoning realm_

In the realm of summons, a giant winged beast rested on a mountain top in his kingdom. Giant purple scales covered the majest beast's body. The great beast sneezed, it's reptilian eyes opening afterwards. Looking around, the dragon looked down at the mountain and said, in english supprisingly, "Father, I think someone is talking about me."  
Afterwards, a rumbling was heard as an eye opened in the giant 'mountain'. "Who would dare talk about the Dragon King's eldest daughter?" he boomed.  
Suddenly, an even bigger mountain next to the Dragon King shook. "Mabye it is a new summiner?" the mountain suggested.  
The dragon King pondered this. "Mabye elder, but we will need to test him."  
_Konoha_  
The aged man nodded to slightly less aged man. "True, we don't know much about them, but that doesn't explain why you need **KIDS** for this group." Before Jiraiya could explain himself, the aged Hokage gave him a grandfatherly grin. "Then again, your ideas, no matter how unorthidox, have barely failed before. I grant you your team, I'll even let you pick them, but my only reqirment is that you take Naruto Uzumaki on your team. I believe it would be best for him if he could see the real world instead of villages hatred. Also, as a reguest, not a requirment, could you take Sasuke Uchiha with you. Ever since his Clan's massacre he has been slightly unstable. The Council let him join the acadamy non-the-less, but I think it would also benefit him to be put in his place."  
Jiraiya nodded. "Good idea. I'll take those two and then head out to search for other canidates. Mabye one from Mist. The Clan's would gladly give me one of their children to continou their line." Jiraiya muttered the last part to himself, but Sarutobi caught it anyways.  
"What do you mean from Mist? Don't you intend to fight Akatsuki with leaf trainies?" The aged Hokage was bewildered. Here was his one loyal student suggesting to join forces with the enemy. Seeing the look in his old pupil's eyes told him that Jiraiya was sserious. "I don't understand, why would you bring other villages into this?"  
Jiraiya sighed. "Akatsuki is formed from the best of the best from different villages. They excel at their villages style and take it to a whole new level. Sure, we could probably handle Orochimaru and Itachi since we know their style, but Kisami Hoshigaki, Deidara the Mad Bomber, Sasori of the Red Sand? We don't know how they fight. It would be easier to enlist the help of other villages. A Kage Summit Meeting would be to obvious so that woun't work. we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way."  
The aged Sarutobi knew what he was talking about right away. "Kidnapping Jiraiya, that could start a war!"  
"Only if I'm caught," Jiraiya countered. Seeing he was about to say something else against him, he quickly added, "You can always say I was working alone. You can even mark me as a missing-nin if you need to make certain you can't be blamed."  
The aged Hokage sighed. 'I'm to old for this stuff,' he thought to himself. "Fine," he consented. "I'll call the two up so you can leave. I'll even give you a three hour head start before you are declaired a missing-nin. And some advice, the Sand has a jinjuriki around Naruto and Sasuke's age. I don't have a description, but I do know that he is the Kazekage's son." Afterwards, he summoned two ANBU and sent them to get the two boys. ument here...


	2. Shield of the League: Enter the Sandman

Jiraiya walked casually through the town. Settled on the border of Wind and Fire Country, Sunamori village was small and quiet. Perfect for a man and two kids on the run. He could still remember the reactions of the two kids from yesterday.

_Day Before_

Jiraiya stood behind the Third Hokage as the two boys walked in flanked by two ANBUs. The first ANBU, whereing a cat mask, spoke first. "You called for these two?" She confirmed. When Hiruzen nodded, Cat, and her partner Bear, dissapeared in a Shunshin.  
Seeing the ANBU leave, Naruto yelled out to the Hokage, "Yo old man, who's that behind you?" Hearing the blonde yelling, Sasuke scoffed and muttered, "dobe."  
"Teme!" Naruto shot back.  
"Weakling," Sasuke countered.  
"Emo!"  
"Idiot."  
"Enough!" Jiraiya yelled out before turning to the old Hokage. "Can I pick someone else for this?"  
Hiruzen laughed. "This was the deal. It's either them or no team."  
"Old bastard," Jiraya mumbled. He then turned back to the still glaring acadamy students. Getting into a idotic pose, he yelled out, "I am the gallant Jiraiya of the Sennin. I am a man among men, and self-proclaimed super-pervert!"  
"Whatever Pervy-Sage," Naruto said flippantly, making sasuke smirk and Jiraiya to face-fault. "So old man, what are we here for? I mean, I know I'm awsome and all, but what about this teme?"  
"Dobe."  
"Emo!"  
"Weakling."  
"Duck ass!"  
"Idiot."  
"Enough!" Jiraiya yelled again. "And for what you're here for, is I'm training a team to become the elites of the Shinobi world. I will make you and others able to go toe to toe against legends like Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, Mute Man Mu, and even Minato Namakazi. Their's a group of S-class missing-nins being constructed, and this group is going to destroy them."  
Sarutobi nodded. "Now," he began. "Jiraiya, get these kids out of here. Tell them the rest later, and remember, you only have an hour to leave the country."

_Present_

Those very children were currently in the hotel he booked fighting with each other. The heat was just making it worse for them. "I better find someone in this god forsaken dessert." Jiraiya mumbled as he headed back to the room. There wasn't even a hotspring in this village!  
When he arraived at the hotel, he heard arguing from inside the room. "Those brats can't go ten minutes without fighting," he mumbled as he opened the door.  
"Ramen is the most awsomefood, teme!" "Tomatoes are the best, Dobe."  
"Ramen is the food of heaven!"  
"No, tomatoes are."  
"Shut up you annoying brats!" Jiraiya yelled at the two. "Do you realy need to fight over every little thing?"  
The two looked at each other and back at Jiraiya before giving a simutaneous nod.  
"Whatever," Jiraiya mumbled. He headed over to his room as he yelled over his shoulder, "We're heading for Suna tommarrow, so get some rest."  
After an uneventful night, Jiraiya and the two children headed across the desert. Since they were young and couldn't run as fast as Jiraiya, both Naruto and Sasuke held onto one of his shoulders for the ride.  
Sometime around nightfall, they saw the sandstone walls of the village. Jiraiya quickly and discreatly summoned a toad to get them into the village. Being swallowed by a toad wasn't on Sasuke's or Naruto's bucket list, but thankfully they didn't complain to much.  
The first thing the two noticed was how different Suna was from Konoha. Konoha was so full of life, yet here in Suna, people seemed to be sluggish, like they didn't know what they were doing. When ninja walked by back in Konoha, the people smiled and waved to the. Here, the people back away from the ninja with fear on their faces. The two were suprisingly quiet all the way to thepark were Jiraiya hid them to look for someone that looked skilled. It didn't take long to spot someone who stood out. Sitting on a swing by himself, a boy around Naruto and Sasuke's age. He was dressed in a clean tan cloak and blue pants. Surrounding his eyes were black rings, almost like a racoon's.  
Not far away, a group of kids were kicking a ball back and forth. One of them kicked the ball to the boy accidentally. When he picked it up to give to them, they scattered, running in fear of the child no older than them. Seeing this, Naruto remembered how the people of Leaf would look at him. All of them looking at him with fear and cotempt. Not able to control himself, Naruto ran out of hiding and went over to the red headed child.  
"Hey, I'm Naruto," Naruto said, putting out his hand. "What's your's?"  
The boy looked at him rather subdued and said meekly, "Gaara."  
Putting his hand down, Naruto asked him, "Want to play?"  
Gaara looked at him strangley. "Why would you want to play with me?"  
Now Naruto looked at him strangely. "Why wouldn't want to play with you?" he shot back.  
"Because I'm a monster," Gaara said simply.  
Back in the hiding spot, Jiraiya was cursing Naruto's stupidity. "That damn brat. He's going to get us all killed." Just as he was about to head out and grab him, he heard Gaara say something to Naruto that caught his attention.  
"Because I'm a monster."  
Jiraiya almost laughed when he heard that. "That damn brat found the kid," he mumbled. He then walked out of the cover with Sasuke quickly following him. "Hello, Gaara was it?" he said as he walked up to the two. When the red head nodded, Jiraiya continoued. "Well Gaara," he bagan, I'm starting a group comprised of Shinobi from all over the Elemental Nations. I want you to join me. Naruto here," he said gesturing towards Naruto. "And Sasuke," he gestured to Sasuke, "are both on this team. Will you join us?"  
Gaara looked at him, confused as to why this man would want to be with him. "But, I'm a monster. Why would you want to be with me?"  
"Because," Jiraiya began. "A monster is strong, and we need strong people in this group." Seeing the confusion in the boys eyes, he decided to add one last peice of motivation. "I could even fix your seal. I can make it so you're not a monster."  
With hope in his eyes, Gaara nodded without hesitation. Seeing this, Jiraiya threw Naruto and Sasuke onto his shoulders and went to pick up Gaara when he heard someone yell out, "Don't touch my nephew!" He turned and saw a femanine looking man. He was dressed in the standard Jonin vest of Sand with a bandaged skull cap. In both of his hands were kunia. Seeing this Jiraiya made a Shadow Clone and had it pick up Gaara and take sasuke and Naruto. After he told the clone to get out of the village, he faced the man before him. Pulling out two kunia as well, he faced the man and prepared to attack him.  
"What do you want with Gaara?" the man asked.  
"I want to help him," Jiraiya responded honestly. "I also need his strength."  
Tightening his grip on his blades, the asked venomisly, "What do you need his strength for?"  
Jiraiya sighed. He didn't think he would need to explain it until he gathered the group. Sighing, he decided to again tell the truth. "An organization just popped up that needs to be put down," he stated simply.  
"Why can't regular shinobi go against them?" he countered.  
"What village can take down a group of S-Class missing-nin and whoever is able to keep them in line?" Jiraiya stated seriously. "And the Big Five won't join together, that's for certain."  
"So send children! They won't last a second!" the Suna Jonin shouted.  
"I have time to train them. Akatsuki is still in the initial phase. They won't be much of a threat for a few years. In that time I plan to train these brats to fight them," Jiraiya the man was about to relent, decided to throw in some more incentive. "One of their members in Sasori of the Red Sand."  
Seeing the shock in his eyes, the man nodded and lowered his kunias. "Take the kids and run. Go as fast as you can, I'll try to buy you time."  
Seeing the man was going to help them, Jiraiya nodded and ran after the clone.


	3. Discovery of a Life Time

After three days of traveling (running) from Suna, Jiraiya and his now three brats stopped in Hot Spring Country near the coast. Letting the three boys off his back, he turned to face them.  
"Okay brats," he began. "That was a close call in Suna, so I need to start your training early," he stated as he pulled out three cards. Handing one to each of them, he then said, "these cards are called chakra paper. They're made from a tree that is grown in chakra saturated soil, so it reacts to chakra." He then pulled out another card. Channeling chakra into it, it burst into flames and was soon reduced to ash. "By channeling chakra into this card, it will react in different ways depending on your elemental affinity."  
Naruto gave him a confused look. "What's an elemental affinity?" he asked.  
Sasuke scoffed. "It tells you what elemental ninjustu you'll be best at, dobe," he commented arrogantly.  
"Watch it teme!" Naruto shot back.  
"Weakling,"  
"Duck-Ass!"  
"Idiot,"  
"Emo!"  
"Enough!" Jiraiya yelled over their bickering.  
"Do they always get like this?" Gaara asked.  
Jiraiya scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yea, pretty much," he sighed. Going back to teacher mode, he then instructed them to channel their chakra into the paper.  
As the did this, they noticed that their cards began to change. Sasuke's was crumbled up, with the edges starting to curl up and towards the center. Gaara's card was cut in half and both sides turned to dirt. Naruto's card became soggy on one end, while the other end also turned to dirt. As Jiraiya observed this, he mentally went through what he could teach the three. 'Lets see, I have a few lightning Justu back at my hideout, I know one earth justu, but I'm sure I have a few more somewhere. No water justu and definitely no wind justu.'  
"Well, Now that I know what elements you have, I can begin planning for what elements to tech you. Sasuke, your element is lightning, and a pretty good one at that. Lightning is a good offensive element, but not that great for defense. Gaara, your elements are wind and earth. Wind is another purely offensive element, but has a few defensive justu. Earth is primarily a defensive and capture element with a few powerful attacks. Naruto, you have earth and water. Like I said, earth is primarily a defensive and capture element with a few powerful attacks. Water, however, is an all around element. It can capture, defend, and attack all in the same attack," he explained to each of them.  
Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a scroll and tossed it towards them. When Naruto caught it, Jiraiya explained what was on it. "On that scroll is instructions for the Shunshin Justu," he explained. "It's kind of like an advanced Replacement Justu." Turning around, he headed towards the town nearby whule saying over his shoulder, "I'm going to town to see in anyones following us!" He then disappeared in a flash of smoke.  
"Stupid pervert," Naruto mumbled."  
"Why do you call him a pervert?" asked Gaara.  
Instead on Naruto answering, Sasuke did. "When he says he goes to investigate towns, he actually heads towards hot springs and peeps on the women's side," he elaborated.  
"How do you know that?" Gaara again asked.  
"Because we caught him once," replied Naruto with s shudder which was copied by Sasuke.  
Not wanting to know what the shudder was for, Gaara opened the scroll and started reading through the contents.

* * *

3 Hours Later

For three hours, the three boys tried to get it down. out of all of them, Gaara was the only one and was working on doing it without handseals. Naruto was the farthest from finishing it, but the only one with enough energy to complain about it. "Dammit!" he cursed. "Why can't I get it?!"  
"Shut up Dobe," Sasuke said.  
"Watch it teme!"  
"Loser,"  
"Emo!"  
Weakling,"  
"Stop it you two," Gaara said while in concentration.  
Naruto started walking away from the group before he spoke up. "Ero-sennin shouldn't be done for another few hours. I'm gonna check this place out. Want to come with?" he asked them.  
Thinking a walk would help him, Gaara started after Naruto. Not wanting to be left behind, Sasuke soon followed.

* * *

Walking through the woods, the trio stumbled a pond a cave. Strangely, there weren't any mountains nearby. Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto started into the cave. Sasuke grabbed a stick and lite it on fire using his Grand Fireball justu. Using it as a torch, he and Gaara soon followed the blonde.  
The cave was treacherous. Without Sasuke's torch, they would've fallen through countless of holes and drop offs. Eventually though, they saw a dim light at the end of the tunnel they were in. Ignoring everything saying "Don't go!" they went ahead.  
Entering the small room with the dim light, eleven more lights burst into life. The inside of the room was like an altar. Twelve platforms circled around the outside of the room. Behind each was a brazier were the fire originated from. On each platform was a scroll with a different weapon for each.  
"Awesome!" Naruto shouted running recklessly into the room. Gaara and Sasuke just watched him running.  
"You think it's safe?" Gaara asked Sasuke.  
The Uchiha shrugged. "He's alive isn't he," he said before following, albeit a bit more cuatious incase Naruto missed some. Deciding to throw caution in the wind, Gaara followed them.  
Running across the room, Naruto went to the platform marked with the kanji for dragon. Checking out the weapon, he saw a great, straight sword with a tip that curved inwards. The handle looked like it was made with bone, while the blade looked like a canine from one of the Inuzaka dogs. The guard only extended a bit past the edges of the blade. The blade itself was at least five feet long. With the handle it was easily six feet. The sheath for the sword was in a circular form, like a shield. the diameter was as long as the blade, and the inside was completely hollow, with the top and left side were open. The sheath looked like it was made of wood, with a steel knob in the middle. Despite that it still looked durable.  
Sasuke went to the platform that was marked with the kanji for wolf. He couldn't describe it, he was just drawn to this one. Seeing the weapon, Sasuke noticed they were dual axes. Small enough to be used one handed each, they looked to be made of iron while some parts were wrapped in black fur. The blades looked like they were made from large claws. Checking out the scroll he saw that it had black lines circling the edge.  
Gaara was drawn to the one marked with the kanji for armadillo. Bellow the scroll was a long spear. The shaft was the color of sand and had the same texture. The blade was strange. It was a hollow ball with two axe-like blades on the sides with a spear head on top. On the Ball was a small hatch that when he opened revealed nothing to be in it. He also discovered that the same could be said for the shaft. all-in-all, he would guess the whole thing was about eight feet long.  
Still checking out their platform, none of the trio noted the set of dark eyes staring at them. "What are you doing here?" Jiraiya asked as he came out of the shadows. Naruto jumped, Sasuke flinched, and Gaara looked back at him with a small hint of surprise.  
Naruto scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "How'd you find us Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked.  
Jiraiya growled at being called Pervy Sage by the brat, but answered anyways. "I had one of my toad summons watching over you for me," he stated. "When you three started exploring, he followed you and found me when he found out where you were going." Looking over the place, he then corrected himself. "The question isn't how you found it though, it's what you found. What is this place anyways?"  
Sasuke and Gaara shrugged while Naruto shouted out, "I don't know, but it's awesome!" He grabbed the surprisingly light sword and showed it to him. "Check it out!" he shouted while grinning.  
Jiraiya went over to the platform Gaara was at since it was closest and looked at the scroll. When he reached for it, a barrier was erected around it and blocked his hand. "What is this?" he mused. "Hey Gaara," he said while turning to the boy. "Let me see that spear."  
A voice in the back of his head was yelling for him to hold onto the spear and not give it up. Surprisingly, it didn't sound like Shikaku's voice. Despite the strange new voice in his head telling him not to, he handed the spear to Jiraiya. When Jiraiya grabbed it, it dragged his arm to the floor, the rest of him soon following.  
"What the hell!" he yelled out, letting go of the spear. When Gaara picked it back up with one hand, Jiraiya looked at him questioningly. "Hey brat, how can you hold that thing with one hand while it dragged me straight into the floor?" he asked him. Gaara just shrugged. To him, the spear was light as a grain of sand.  
Suddenly, Jiraiya got an idea to get the scroll. "Hey Gaara," he began. "Can you get that scroll for me?" he asked. Gaara shrugged and grabbed the scroll without any barrier popping up. Pulling out, he handed it to Jiraiya. When he grabbed it, he was thankful that it didn't drag him to the floor like the others did. Opening it up, he saw three seals on it. Two were storage seals while the other was a key to 'unlock' them.  
Looking it over, he realized that a 'key' was needed to unlock it. Brainstorming on what it could be, he turned to Gaara before telling him to check the bottom of the shaft for a seal. When he saw it, he instructed him to place it over the 'lock'. When it did, two puffs of smoke exploded from the two storage seals. When they cleared, two more scrolls were reveled. The first one was longer than the second, but the second one was thicker than the first. Jiraiya examined the longer one first. If he was drinking something as he opened it, the scroll would be ruined from him spitting his drink all over it. His eyes bugging out of his sockets, Jiraiya only mumbled one phrase, "Summoning Contract."

_(AN- __hey folks, sorry 'bout the delay. I was on vacation so I didn't have time to work on this.  
Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Took me a while to figure out what weapon each character should get, how I should describe it and all that other stuff, so again, sorry 'bout the delay and I hope to update soon. Remember to R&R!)_


	4. Into the Bloody Mist

It has been five days since the discovery of the cave. Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara now had the scrolls and weapons with them as the entered Water Country. Miraculously, the weapons that were at first to big for the three, shrunk down to fit them perfectly.  
Traveling through Water Country was no easy matter. Being in the middle of a civil war, patrols were even more numerous and observant. Luckily though, Jiraiya's toad contract once again saved the day, allowing for discrete traveling.  
After three days of traveling, the group arrived outside a small, run down town. It was about a two-day journey from Kiri, so Jiraiya deemed it safe. Never-the-less, he sent out toad sentinels to warn about any patrols.  
After going to three different stores for supplies, the group was finally restocked and ready to restart their search for the hidden clans. As they were leaving the town, they crossed a small, snow-covered bridge. On the side of the bridge was a huddled mass. Naruto, being the first to notice it was a human, ran over to it. Not far behind were the others.  
Reaching the child, Naruro squatted down to his level. Holding his hand out to him, he introduced himself. "Hey, my names Naruto, what's your's?" he asked with a big goofy grin. The child, who couldn't have been more than two years older than Naruto, looked up at him with big, empty, brown eyes.  
Seeing no reply was coming, Naruro lowered his hand, but his grin stayed big as ever. Soon Sasuke, Gaara, and Jiraiya caught up to him. "Well, Naruto began. "These people are Gaara, the Emo Prince Sasuke, and Pervy-Sage," Naruto introduced. Ignoring Sasukes glare and Jiraiya's rant about introducing him as Pervy-Sage, Naruto continued talking. "So, what are you doing out here all alone?"  
The child looked down, his shaggy hair covering his eyes. "My parents are dead," he said simply. "My father killed my mother and then tried to kill me, so I killed him, and now I'm all alone." Naruto's eyes widened at the thought of the child's father trying to kill both him and his mother. Weren't families supposed to love each other?  
Sasuke narrowed his eyes when he heard what the child said. It reminded him of what happened to his own family. Killed by his own brother, Itachi, and how he vowed to kill that man for it. Gaara simply looked down slightly and had a sad look in his eyes. He knew just how cruel family could be. His own siblings shunned him. His father ignored him also. Then he remembered what his uncle said to him. He told him how wounds to the heart could only be healed by love. He looked over at Jiraiya with conviction in his eyes. Jiraiya, having an idea about what he was thinking, nodded to Gaara.  
Gaara walked up to the child and held out his hand, shocking both Sasuke and Naruto. For as long as they knew Gaara, he has refrained from physical contact with anyone.  
"Join us," Gaara stated simply. The child's head popped up at those words. Why would they want him?  
"Why?" was the equally simple reply. At this Naruto again grinned, and surprisingly, so did Sasuke.  
"Why not?" was Gaara asked. Seeing the other two smiling, Gaara nodded, letting them say their parts.  
"We're outcasts. Simple as that. We have no friends, no family, and few that would miss us," Sasuke stated.  
"We're alone in this world, whether it's by choice or not doesn't matter. 'Cause every person close to ya, makes the pain a little less," Naruto finished with a goofy grin. Jiraiya then stepped forwards and smiled at the child.  
"So what do you say, will you join our merry band?" Jiraiya asked in a wierd pose.  
The child laughed before standing up and nodded. "Sure," he began. " I'll join you. By the way, my name is Haku." The now group of five smiled together before Jiraiya flinched.  
"Someone's coming," he said before grabbing the kids and shunshining out of the town. Not long after the smoke cleared, and tall man with a large sword strapped to his back and bandages around his mouth walked across the very bridge they were just on.

After their escape from the bridge, the group of five continued their journey through Water Country. Not long into it, they heard news of the Kaguya Clan's attack on a Kiri outpost. It was said that all were destroyed.

After two more days of searching for the hidden clans, Jiraiya decided it was too dangerous to remain in Water Country. As they were leaving the country though, they came upon a boy standing at the edge of a river. The boy was pale and thin with light grey hair going down to his shoulders.  
As they walked over to him, Jiraiya felt something off. Keeping his senses alert, he scanned the area, unable to find what was giving him this feeling.  
As they got closer to the boy, he turned around. Noticing them, he pulled a bone out from his palm and held it like a sword.  
"What do you want?" he asked. Seeing that the boy was nervous, the five stopped where they were.  
Holding up his hands to show he wasn't a threat, Jiraiya spoke in a calm voice, "Calm down gaki, we're not here to hurt you."  
Not letting go of the bone, the child glared at them. "How do I know you are not lying?" he asked them. As Jiraiya tried to think of a way to prove they weren't enemies, a low laugh came from the trees around them.  
"Jiraiya-kun, it has been to long, and it looks like the rumors of you going nuke are true," the man said. He was a tall thin man with paper white skin. His snake-like eyes, outlined in purple marking, were like daggers, piercing into you. With his face framed by black with a few strands covering his eyes, he smirked at the group as he walked farther into the clearing.  
Pulling out a kunai, Jiraiya ran between the man and the kids. "Orochimaru, what you doing here?" he asked threateningly. Orochimaru laughed as he stopped.  
"Jiraiya-kun, do you honestly believe I came all the way out here to fight you?" he asked, smiling the whole time. "I came here to talk with you."  
Jiraiya growled. "Well I don't wish to talk to you," he stated. "Now get going before I kill you." As he finished Orochimaru laughed.  
"Jiraiya, you call yourself a master of spies, yet you couldn't find the truth about what happened that day," he said smiling. "You don't honestly believe what you heard about that day is true do you?" Seeing the serious look on Jiraiya's face, Orochimaru just chuckled sadly. "Let me tell you about what really happened that day," he said as he sat down. Noticing that the children sat down but Jiraiya remained standing, Orochimaru shrugged as he began his tale.

* * *

**Flash back**

Orochimaru sat in his office at Research and Develepment, a bottle of saké in one hand, a letter in the other, trying to quench his anger. "How could that old monkey pick him of all people to be his successor? That brat doesn't have half the skill of experience I have!" a younger Orochimaru yelled as he threw an empty bottle across the room. He was slightly younger now, and with a Konoha headband around his forehead and a jonin flask jacket on his body. Rereading over the letter he received from Hiruzen, he tore the entire thing to bits and burned the rest to ashes. Not long after, a knock was heard on his door. Sighing, he yelled out a brief, "Come in," before he saw the man that almost all shinobi were wary of.  
As Danzo walked into the room, Orochimaru was instantly on alert. Why of all people would Danzo be visiting him. The old war hawk never did anything with reason, and most of the reasons weren't nice reasons.  
"Hello Danzo, what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?" Orochimaru asked sarcastically.  
Ignoring the sarcasm, Danzo sat down in one of the seats in the room. "I came here to deliver a message from Hiruzen," Danzo said evenly.  
Hearing his reply, Orochimaru sneered. "I got the letter," he said venomously.  
At hearing this, Danzo cracked a rare smirk. "Oh no, not that. This about an experiment for you to conduct," he said, still smirking.  
Hearing this, Orochimaru was intrigued. An experiment for him to carry out was very rare. Most were sent to the lower level workers of R&D. He was just here to supervise them. "And what could this experiment be?" Orochimaru asked cautiously. It was never good to let your guard down around Danzo.  
"Hiruzen has sent a request for you to find a way to transplant the cells of Harashima Senju into a shinobi. He believes that it could be a way to increase our shinobi force's strength," Danzo replied casually. "He also sent me here with a some samples for you to use."  
To say Orochimaru was shocked would have been an understatement. To find a way to transplant the cells of the first Hokage would make him a legend! He has also been thinking of a way to make himself immortal, but there was just something missing. The cells could've been what he had been searching for all along! But yet, why was Danzo the one delivering the message and not a regular shinobi or ANBU? "That is great to hear Danzo, but I will need to confirm it with Hiruzen just to be sure. Unless you have a scroll from him detailing it of course," Orochimaru stated with a small smirk.  
Reaching into his robe with his good hand, Danzo pulled out small scroll and tossed it to Orochimaru. "In there is a more detailed description and his signature," Danzo said before standing up to leave. "I wish you good luck on your tests," he said before he left.

* * *

**End Flashback**

"A few weeks later, Hiruzen discovered what I was doing, and put a stop to it. That was when I realized that I was tricked," he said giving a hollow laugh. "To think, the cunning snake was outwitted by an old hawk."  
Jiraiya still never left his guard down. "How do I know you aren't lying?" he asked. "You said it yourself, you're a cunning snake."  
Orochimaru stood up from where he was sitting and walked up to him. "Back when I was in the village, when you, me, and Tsunade were teammates, who were we?" he asked him.  
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at his question before answering. "We were the Sannins," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which it almost was.  
"Now tell me, how did we get that title, three greatest Shinobi? How did we earn the rights to be called great? What did we do to get the title S-ranked?" Orochimaru asked in succession.  
Jiraiya looked at him and lowered the kunia in his hand. "We were the only three left in the squad that fought Hanzo the Salamander. We were the only ones of our group to go back to base that day,"he said sadly as he remembered the event. So many good shinobi died against one man, and they were the only ones to survive.  
"Who fought off three Gennin teams in our first Chunnin Exams while Tsunade was getting poison out of my system?" he asked again.  
"I did," Jiraiya replied sadly.  
"Who was it that carried you home after you drank yourself unconscious after the war?" Orochimaru asked him.  
Jiraiya looked up at him with a smirk and replied, "Tsunade did."

Orochimaru laughed at Jiraiya's statement before replying. "No, Tsunade dragged you back to your apartment complex. I carried you up five flights of steps, searched through your pockets for you're keys, and threw you're drunk ass on the couch," Orochimaru corrected.  
"That was you! I thought it was Tsunade trying to sneak a feel," Jiraiya said dissapointedly, making Orochimaru shiver.  
"Well anyways, since you went nuke, you need a place to stay right? Why not join me?" Orochimaru asked Jiraiya.  
"Aren't you in Akatsuki?" Jiraiya asked.  
"I left them a few weeks ago. Itachi nearly killed me so I left before I could get a new host," Orochimaru said nonchalantly  
"What do mean a new host?" Jiraiya asked, taking a step back.  
"Oh that's right, I didn't tell you yet. I finished the immortality justu I've been working on. The missing item is a human body," Orochimaru replied. "Don't worry though, the only people I use are criminals. That's why I joined Akatsuki in the first place."  
Calming down enough, Jiraiya then asked something that has been on his mind. "Speaking of Akatsuki, do you know anything useful about them. Something like members, numbers, their location, you know, things like that?"  
"Hmm, well, the Leader doesn't give us much information on strategy and such. Also, we don't have a set meeting point. We just stop wherever we're at and send an astral projection. I can tell you members though. Their was Leader and his partner , Konan I think her name was. Then there was Zetsu and his partner Maki Suchiru Those two are primarily trackers. They find the target and then call in a group to take it down. Next group is Itachi Uchiha and Kisami Hoshigaki. Another pair is Kizan Neko and Maiko Jigoku. The last two groups are Diedara the Mad Bomber with Sasori of the Red Sand, and Hidan the Immortal with Kakazu of Five Lives."  
"Those are some very big players in the Shinobi world. What could this Leader person want with all of them?" Jiraiya asked Orochimaru.  
"Well that's the simple part. All of those S-Rank Shinobi, are after the Jinchuuriki, or more precisely, the Biju's they hold," Orochimaru answered.


End file.
